After the closure at the beginning of the 20th century, it was forgotten. Since the renovation by the Cultural and Museum Association Villanders a few years ago, the mine can now also be visited by the public.
The entire Pfunderer mountain is crisscrossed by ore veins. Until the beginning of the 20th century, copper, pyrite, sphalerite, pyrite, galena, and silver were mainly mined. The more than 16 kilometers long network of galleries has an altitude difference of 750 meters. Two thirds were hand-carved, one third was driven forward with blasting powder. In the first half of the 16th century, the Villanders ore field experienced its heyday, after which the deposits gradually became exhausted. Nevertheless, ore mining continued in the following centuries, and there was another short period of prosperity from 1893 to 1908 when mining operations ceased. During the Second World War (1943), there was a brief resumption of mining.
The Elisabeth gallery, with a length of 1,670 meters, was renovated as a show gallery and has been open for visits since 2005. It offers a beautiful insight into traditional mining methods, the processing of the extracted ores, and the poor working conditions of the miners, who only had a short life expectancy of 35 to 40 years.
Guided tours
April to November
Tuesday and Thursday
at 10:30 and 14:00
Sunday at 10:30
Arrival
The easiest way to reach the mine is by car. Turn off at Chiusa towards Villanders and from Villanders towards Villanderer Alm for about 7km to the “Zilderer Kehre” (large notice board). Here you turn right and after about 0.5km you will find a visitor parking lot. From there it is about 300 meters walk to the “Elisabeth Gallery”.
www.bergwerk.it
Tel. +39 345 3115661
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